Photos: Ramen Mafia Serves Up Noodles at Slurp Pop-Up Dinner

This past Saturday marked the birthday of Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant ramen, and the debut of Slurp, a pop-up ramen event hosted by Ramen Mafia. The event was a collaboration of a few noodle lovers paying tribute to papa noodle. Distiller Jake Norris of Laws Whiskey House, artist Andrew Novick and chef John Rojas each made homemade broth to be ladled over fresh noodles from Sun Noodle Company.

Tickets went on sale last month and sold out almost instantly; 100 lucky guests came to slurp their way to noodle bliss. Hosted in the gallery space at Buffalo Exchange on Broadway, ticket holders were not told where the event would take place until a few days beforehand, giving it a secret supper-club feel. There were four seatings, and at each one, guests lined up for a bowl of noodles, which were then drowned in a choice of bone broth, dashi or a vegan miso stock.

The next stop was a topping station, where guests found soy eggs, vegetables, meat, tofu and fish cakes to their hearts' content. There was even a dessert ramen from Novick made with coconut milk and sakura blossom tea and topped with handmade Hello Kitty marzipan.

The pop-up was a fun, slurp-filled success that the Ramen Mafia hopes to duplicate soon, since the organizers all agree that the event went on without a hitch. For more photos of Slurp, see our complete slideshow.